Commander
by aquixx
Summary: Sasuke has lived in Itachi's shadow all his life. He can never seem to make anyone proud and he knows his family is disappointed. One messed up mission ruins his already pretty pathetic life. At least, that's what he tries to get himself to believe.
1. Chapter 1

This fic is crossposted from AO3. Irrelevant author's notes can be found there.

* * *

Sasuke felt his mouth go dry. His voice refused to work when he tried speaking, and he faltered unceremoniously.

"With all due respect, Sir, my team has a ninety-nine percent success rate." He should've stopped talking, but some impulse - some stupid impulse - made him continue. "I've only ever lead one ineffective mission."

"One unsuccessful mission," Fugaku said with a frown. Sasuke flinched, which definitely did not help his case. If possible, his father looked even more disappointed, and Sasuke was the inferior, just-tolerated son anyway. He should be used to this by now. "Itachi has a one hundred percent success rate."

Sasuke did not wince. He wouldn't let himself wince. Why wasn't he ever good enough? No matter how hard he tried, no matter how long he worked, he could never seem to catch up to Itachi. He'd never been able to make his father proud to this day, and although his mother hid it better he knew that she was disappointed at how he'd turned out as well. Not enough like Itachi, not talented like Itachi. Sasuke was good but not _great_, smart but not a _genius_, handsome but not _breathtaking_, strong but not _untouchable_ or _inviolable_. He was above average at best, not remarkable or noteworthy.

"Who would take my place," Sasuke said monotonously, trying (and probably failing) to keep the spite out of his voice.

"Shisui," Fugaku said without missing a beat. Sasuke felt his heart drop. His father had been thinking about this for awhile if he already had a replacement ready. One that had a fighting style so wildly different from his own, at that. That meant that the teams would have to be shuffled around, and Sasuke was sure that if he asked he would find that those had been thought out and perfected as well.

"Shisui is on a team," Sasuke tried anyway. He wouldn't have stayed and argued and stomped on any and all dignity if it had just been him getting kicked out of his position. Unfortunately, it wasn't just that. He was getting kicked out of the clan. "That's his best position and-"

"You are dismissed. You have one hour to gather your possessions and exit clan grounds."

Sasuke really hoped he didn't look like he was going to cry, because he felt like he was going to cry. Trying desperately not to shake and blinking rapidly, he turned around and left the tent.

It didn't take Sasuke long to get all of his things. Six sets of clothes, all but one sealed into a scroll. His weapons were already packed except his sword. He took his old stuffed dino so his family would have no momento of him. He even took the family photo from its frame for good measure. Sasuke picked up a few of the advanced jutsu scrolls and some of the more general ones from the desk. He took blank ones from Itachi's stash and swiped a sealing scroll on his way out. His bag was slung over his shoulder, his weapon pouches were in place, he had money in his wallet, and his sword was hanging from a loop of wire on his back.

Sasuke did not choke up while leaving the gates.

He wandered aimlessly for a while. He didn't run, because what was the rush? At about sunset he decided to buckle down and find some meaning in his life. As such, Sasuke climbed a tree (he would always be a Fire Country shinobi a heart) and mentally listed all the clans that might help him.

He found himself nervously fiddling with the necklace that one Uzumaki Karin had given him a few years ago. It was a little Uchiha fan strung onto a thin silver chain. It came to rest a bit below the level of his collarbone. Although the fan itself didn't hold much meaning to Sasuke anymore, the sentiment would always be there.

Before he realized it Sasuke could feel warm liquid trailing down his cheeks. It took him longer than he would admit to stop crying and pull himself together. He was a shinobi. He used to be a commander. He couldn't cry over trivial things like being kicked out of his clan by his own father with nowhere to go because he could never reach his older brother's level.

He wasn't trying to make himself cry again. In fact, he made his best effort to stop the flow of tears. They came anyway.


	2. Chapter 2

**Replying to reviews:**

** RaymondTylerkarwacki - I tend to write short chapters. More of this fic is posted on AO3 already, but I'll be posting it here over the next few days.**

** xxXKiba-KunXxx - Thank you! I hope you'll enjoy the rest of the fic just as much :)**

* * *

He met him on the fourth day. Sasuke was taking his time. He was almost halfway to the Uzumaki clan's village. The journey would take under a day if he was running at top speed, but there was a part of him that wanted to live out on his own. He was sure that that part of him was fueled by spite. To prove to his family that it didn't matter if he was evicted, he was still alive and kicking and not miserable over them.

Sasuke almost smiled when he realized that the last part was not as much of a lie as he thought it would be.

He sensed a chakra similar enough to his own that he thought that maybe his father had reconsidered and decided to just kill him instead. This would be a clan member coming to do the job. Sasuke wouldn't be surprised if the assassin was just mediocre. It wasn't like his father thought he was strong enough to fight one off. His father was probably right. He was about as good as a maggot compared to Itachi.

He wasn't going to go down without a fight, though. Just because he was a disgrace didn't mean he was disgraceful. Sasuke drew his sword quickly and quietly, activating his sharingan. It hurt more than it should've, but he pawned it off as dehydration. It had been surprisingly hard to find water the last couple days. He also smelled pretty bad, so maybe that was what was messing with his head and making his eyes hurt.

He was so focused on focusing that he didn't actually focus on his surroundings, so somehow Sasuke was left standing dumbly holding his sword in a fairly idiotic position. Uchiha assassin was standing in front of him in very non-Uchiha clothes and a black cloak. He also didn't have any weapons out. It seemed that they really did think that low of Sasuke. At that moment, Sasuke couldn't say he'd argue. He wasn't exactly battle ready.

Oh well. If the guy wanted to assassinate him, he would've done it already. Sasuke accepted his fate and deactivated his dojutsu.

The guy stood there, staring at Sasuke with a strange expression on his scarred face.

Sasuke blinked. "Go ahead," he offered, dropping his sword hand but not letting go of his sword. At least he would die with a weapon in his hand. The assassin looked confused.

"What?"

Sasuke was mildly annoyed, and he was never as good at hiding his emotions as Itachi so it probably showed.

"You were going to kill me," Sasuke reminded. He considered how this guy was going to kill him without weapons. He didn't really want to be strangled. Suffocation was one of the more painful ways of dying. So was burning, and this guy was an Uchiha so burning something was probably on his agenda. He hoped the assassin would at least consider his next offer. "I'd rather not be strangled or burned. Maybe you could just slit my throat," he said. Then he added, "I have a kunai if you need one."

The guy looked partly worried and partly amused, but maybe it was because his scars were messing with his facial expressions. "I'm not here to kill you," the guy said. Sasuke deadpanned.

"But you're an Uchiha."

The guy looked surprised for whatever reason.

"How would you know?"

Sasuke wasn't a sensory type, so as much as he wanted to say that his chakra felt familiar he doubted this guy would believe him. Also, he hadn't realized that he was so far cast in Itachi's shadow that even the assassin sent to kill him didn't know who he was. Being the son of the clan head should have some credibility even if his abilities didn't, right? Apparently that didn't go for runner-up.

Uchihas just had this air around them; familiarity, comfort, home. Well, not really, not anymore. That had been what it reminded Sasuke of. It would probably remind different people of different things, but Sasuke was fairly certain that he wasn't delusional so it was definitely there.

So Sasuke shrugged. "Smell like it," he said plainly. That was true too. This guy smelled like burnt… something. Most Uchihas smelled like burnt something at most times of the day.

"Who are you?" the guy asked, narrowing his eyes. Sasuke wanted that not to hurt, but it hurt somewhere in his chest. He tried to shove it down.

"Sasuke," he said simply, not entirely sure if he was allowed to use his family name anymore. Then he decided that he didn't care and the clan deserved to get dragged into the mud a little. It was too high and mighty for its own good. Even if it was just Sasuke who couldn't bring himself to back up their claims of being one of the most powerful clans. His father could certainly stand by what he said, no less Itachi. "Uchiha Sasuke," he said after a pause.

The guy's eye widened minutely.

"Why would you think an Uchiha would kill you?"

_Thanks for rubbing it in my face, ass._

"That's funny," Sasuke said blandly. "You're welcome to leave if you aren't going to kill me."

"I have some friends your age," the guy said. "Come with me."

"No, thanks," Sasuke said, sheathing his sword. Bless Orochimaru for giving it to him. Just because Sasuke had killed the sannin didn't mean he didn't appreciate what he'd taught him.

"Are you okay?" the guy asked. Was that concern in his voice? Sasuke was flattered.

"Dehydrated," Sasuke said, walking down the tree. The guy followed. Sasuke told himself to stop talking. "Haven't washed in four days." Why was he still talking? Had his impulse gone insane? First when he was talking to his father and now this. "I'll live."

Sasuke wanted to slap himself, he really did. Just not in front of this idiot. He settled for digging his nails into the back of his left hand. Hopefully that would make him shut up. Self discipline was great.

Sasuke didn't care to look at the other guy, but he could feel the eye on him. "You are definitely coming with me. We have water back at camp."

Water sounded tantalizing.

"No," Sasuke said rigidly. "You'll have to kidnap me."

And, again, he'd said too much. He wished to draw blood, but then it would be painful to use any of his left-handed jutsu. Namely chidori. It'd also be harder to use wire string if that's what it came down to. Maybe he'd just throw himself into a vat of freezing water and hope it did the trick.

"You're okay with dying but not with getting kidnapped?"

No, Sasuke was not okay with dying. He'd made that offer because the guy had already snuck up on him and had had a load of time to kill him before Sasuke even realized he was there. He just didn't think it was fair if he fought then, since he wasn't even good enough to avoid getting ambushed or distracted. He was practically dead already. He'd made the offer because he didn't want to die too painfully, not because he wanted to die.

Sasuke scowled and bit his tongue before he had the opportunity to open his mouth.

"I'm kidnapping you," the guy announced, grabbing Sasuke's arm and veering left. Sasuke didn't offer any resistance. The guy wasn't holding on too tight, and let go as soon as they were walking the right way.

"I refuse," Sasuke said mildly, slowing down slightly. The guy gave him a light poke to the back.

"I refuse to let you refuse. You are getting kidnapped."

"Damn."

The guy stepped forward a bit to lead the way. Sasuke did not try to leave. It wasn't like he had anything to do anyway. The Uzumaki clan had been a plan to survive since it wasn't likely that he would survive on his own. He supposed he didn't mind if those plans changed slightly.


	3. Chapter 3

"That's not a very tactful decision," Sasuke said, glancing up at the plume of smoke coming from a few miles out.

"You're a confusing kid," Uchiha replied from behind him.

Sasuke frowned and stepped over a stale kunai trap, probably left there from whichever clan had last inhabited the area. He had half a mind to pick up a rock and throw it at the trap so some poor animal didn't set it off. He didn't even notice Uchiha collecting the extra weapons. "Seriously," Sasuke said. "What if an angry clan sees that?"

Uchiha hummed. "The paranoia is a learned trait, then."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Sasuke asked, glancing back. He wasn't paranoid, he was just thinking ahead. Something that Uchiha clearly didn't do.

"Nothing."

Sasuke sighed but didn't ask again. He wondered how Uchiha and his 'friends' survived so long with habits like having open fires in the middle of the morning.

There was a long pause. Sasuke knew that they probably could've made it to the campsite by now if they'd been walking a little faster, but it seemed as if Uchiha was holding out. Maybe he had something to say. Maybe he was waiting for his friends to ambush them and kill Sasuke, but they didn't keep very good track of time.

"Why are you out here?" Uchiha finally asked. Sasuke glanced at him, tilted his head slightly.

"I was… going somewhere," Sasuke said carefully. "Well, planning to, anyway."

"You don't have a team of Uchiha with you to, I don't know, ambush us?"

"Why are you worried about the Uchiha targeting you?" Sasuke asked rather than answering. "You're not rogue or anything, right?"

Uchiha looked a little worried. "I wouldn't call us rogues, just, uh—"

"Wait, us? Your friends are nukenin too?" Sasuke asked. He was starting to doubt his company. Hanging out with a group of nukenin was never a good thing. In theory. "What's your name, anyway?"

"I'll tell you my name if you tell me whether or not you have hunter-nin with you."

"Nobody is with me," Sasuke said. His throat was starting to hurt. Uchiha had better pick up the pace if he really, truly didn't want Sasuke to die (Sasuke doubted it).

"Are you sure?" Uchiha asked, eyes boring into Sasuke's head. Well.

"There might be assassins after me." Sasuke shrugged. "Can't be sure with the clan."

Sasuke could feel the look that Uchiha was giving him.

"That's not reassuring," Uchiha replied, glancing behind him. Sasuke stopped in his tracks and turned to face him.

"We've walked four circles around your camp already. If I don't drink water right now I'm going to die. Is there anything else you want to ask?"

Uchiha stared at him for a long moment. He still seemed to think that Sasuke had plentiful amounts of supplies and rations with him. Before Sasuke could further clarify that he was very close to collapsing on the spot, the older man's train of thought came to a halt.

"Uh, right," he said. Sasuke blinked. This guy was either more of an idiot than he thought or some kind of genius that was far out of his league. "My name's Obito."

Then Obito, at long last, began walking towards the camp rather than around it. Sasuke had to wonder. He'd never heard the name Obito before, but then again, there were a lot of people in the clan. Plus, Obito was older than him so there was a good chance that he'd left the clan when Sasuke was a baby or even before he was born.

That brought up another question. Why was Obito out in the middle of hostile territory of his own free will? Maybe he wasn't away from the clan because he wanted to be. Maybe he'd also been kicked out. But then Sasuke would probably have heard of him, at least in passing. Or maybe he had and his memory was failing him.

"You're swaying," Obito said casually and Sasuke realized that yes, he had stopped walking and was teetering on his feet. So much for being aware of himself and his surroundings. "Sit down."

Sit down? Where exactly was—

Oh.

Sasuke realized two things in that moment. One, he was standing in the middle of a campsite, across from a guy who might be Obito's friend on the other side of the fire. Two, he really, really didn't like to be dehydrated.

* * *

Sasuke opened his eyes slowly and cautiously. He felt as if he'd been trampled and then drowned. There was an ache in his side. The other guy from before was staring at him.

"You passed out," the man explained simply. "Did you know that medicine doesn't work on you?"

Sasuke wanted to ask why anyone had tried to make him take any medicine while he was unconscious, but he felt like he would retch if he opened his mouth. He settled for staring down the man and feeling content with the fact that his throat no longer felt like the victim of a katon jutsu.

"I'm Kakashi," Kakashi introduced. "You're Sasuke. Obito will be back as soon as Naruto has learned that he shouldn't try to drown unfamiliar people on sight."

Sasuke blinked. He counted to ten and took a deep breath. It was more difficult now that he'd been told that someone had attempted to drown him and that there was probably water in his lungs. "Sounds like a moron," he managed to say before he was reduced to a coughing fit. Kakashi awkwardly patted his back until he could breathe again.

"He also threw a bucket at your head."

That explained the headache, at least. Sasuke was seriously considering ditching Obito and his merry band of nukenin now. If he made a break for it now he might actually have a chance of escaping. If Obito got back with even more of his friends then Sasuke might be stuck as a prisoner of rogues for the rest of his life. He wouldn't even die an honorable death.

"You should probably eat something," Kakashi suggested. Sasuke stared at him. He probably looked annoyed considering that he felt nauseous and this man was insinuating that he get up and walk around. He didn't want to stir.

Suddenly, it made sense why he wasn't considered a good shinobi.

With that as motivation, Sasuke rolled onto his front and pushed himself up so he was standing, swallowing the tiny amount of food that had worked its way up from his stomach with distaste. He spent a little bit of time making sure that he wouldn't start feeling sick as soon as he stepped outside. Kakashi took that opportunity to leave.

Kakashi was ready with a full bowl of ramen by the time Sasuke had looked through his bag to make sure everything was still there and strap on all of his weapons. He didn't waste any time sitting himself down to eat even though he usually didn't like ramen. As long as it wasn't rabbit or berries, Sasuke was all for it. He was halfway through the rather large bowl before he slowed down enough to show some manners and ask a very important question.

"How did you manage to make ramen all the way out here?"

There was a beat of silence before Kakashi's eyes closed as if he was smiling in a way that wasn't completely genuine but also not completely sarcastic.

"That is a long story." Kakashi said as a warning. Well, he was eating anyway and needed some time to get the headache to go down, so Sasuke shrugged. Kakashi sighed and so began the tale of the packaged ramen from three weeks ago.


	4. Chapter 4

**Replying to reviews:**

**\- Izumi might be mentioned in the future, but if she does show up it will be very brief.**

** . . - Thank you! Can't really say that I get what you mean but I'm still glad you like it *`-`**

* * *

"I'm sorry for throwing a bucket at your head," Naruto ground out, throwing murderous looks towards Obito. Sasuke was wholly unimpressed and would do anything to get out of this situation. He turned to look at Obito so he could get permission to leave. The older Uchiha had dragged Sasuke to the middle of a clearing away from the camp so Kakashi couldn't laugh at them for… whatever this was supposed to be.

"Now you say; I forgive you, Naruto. Please don't do it again."

Sasuke turned back and looked critically into Naruto's eyes. The demented moron appeared to be just as uncomfortable as Sasuke felt so he was at least a little less embarrassed than he could've been. He was suddenly very glad that the clan didn't practice this method of admitting mistakes. Though that begged the question of where Obito had learned to do something so unpleasant.

"I forgive you, Naruto. Please don't do it again," Sasuke repeated as robotically as he could. If Naruto's method of showing the insincerity in his apology was glaring at Obito, Sasuke's method was to keep any and all feeling out and away from him and his voice. If that failed, he could just pretend that Naruto didn't exist until this incident was forgotten.

Obito scrutinized them for a moment. Sasuke had no idea what he was trying to see in them, so he narrowed his eyes and stared back.

Somehow, he managed to make the man uncomfortable, because he cleared his throat and backed off. "That was awful," Obito concluded after regaining control of his expression, glancing between Naruto and Sasuke. More like off to the right of Sasuke's shoulder because he wasn't looking him in the eye. "But I'll take it."

Sasuke scoffed. As if the old man could make him do that again. It _must_ be a torture method that Obito had picked up during his life as a rogue. There was no other plausible explanation as to why someone would force themselves to talk to someone else.

"It's almost nightfall," Obito continued when Naruto and Sasuke made no moves to reply. "We should head back."

"I haven't done that since I was fourteen," Naruto said angrily, stomping past Obito. Sasuke was about to follow when he whipped around suddenly, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "And _you_, pale ghost fucker, I know you're just a demon sent here to torture—"

Sasuke didn't know why he did it, but he was standing close enough anyway.

"Bastard!" Naruto yelled, holding the spot on his head where Sasuke had punched him. Good. Now Sasuke wouldn't be the only one with a huge bruise on his face.

Naruto lunged at Sasuke, who had stepped back in preparation for a brawl. Sure, he was a little malnourished. Sure, he'd just woken up from collapsing of dehydration, but none of that meant that he was going to chicken out of a fight.

(Maybe he should have just not punched Naruto.)

(No, that was preposterous.)

Obito tackled Naruto just before Sasuke had the chance to send him flying into a tree. The two nukenin flew a few feet before landing in a heap on the floor. "Naruto!" Obito yelled, trying to get a grip on Naruto's flailing wrists. Sasuke wanted to get in a few more punches but watching Obito attempt to wrangle Naruto made him decide against it. It would probably be in his best interests if he just backed off for a little while, so he turned on his heel and headed back to camp. It would've made more sense to walk away sooner, but what's done is done. Oh well.

Sasuke arrived in the camp and Kakashi dropped down in front of him, making no effort to hide the fact that he'd been watching them. "Despite what Obito said, I think you two did well."

Sasuke blinked. Kakashi had said that so blandy that he didn't even have it in him to be annoyed or angry. Instead he silently brushed past him and sat down by the fire, scanning the area for traps. There was still a rather large part of him that wanted to cut and run so if it came down to that he wanted to have a getaway route marked down already.

Kakashi had no outward reaction to that and started walking over, but somehow Naruto got to Sasuke first. Obito was not that far behind and was very clearly yelling and the blond. Seriously, it was like he was _trying_ to attract attention. Isn't that exactly what rogues _didn't_ want?

Sasuke could worry about that later. The more pressing matter now was that Naruto had him by the front of his shirt and was close enough that if he spoke there was a good chance that Sasuke would get a faceful of spit.

Even so, Sasuke had a nice view of the bruise forming on the right side of Naruto's face. He almost smirked.

"I'm back," said… someone from behind him.

Naruto used Sasuke's shirt to yank Sasuke's head down and get a look at whoever it was that was back. Sasuke, having not expected that, sent a burst of chakra into his feet as any other shinobi would do to keep their balance. Unfortunately there was a severe lack of control (Sasuke blamed the bucket-to-head situation) and he ended up blasting the ground below his feet quite violently. And as if life wanted to prove that it was a bitch, Naruto also lost his footing and fell forward onto him, causing Sasuke to fall backwards.

He wasn't sure if his head landed in the fire or hit the log next to it, but he managed to pass out for the second time that day.


	5. Chapter 5

**Replying to reviews:**

**Dark (Guest) - Thank you! Sasuke takes more hits to the head than strictly necessary in these first few chapters.**

**Guest - I'm glad you like the premise! This particular fic diverges from canon when Madara and Hashirama were kids. I'll probably make other minor changes because, like you said, there were some… iffy things in canon that could've been explored more. I just hope I can do it justice.**

* * *

Sasuke sat in silence as the pink-haired girl replaced the bandage around his head. She'd appeared in front of him as soon as he'd woken up and had yet to speak a word. Sasuke could hear Naruto and Obito yelling at each other outside, and it only served to make his head hurt more.

The girl cleared her throat, but Sasuke couldn't focus on what she said. He grit his teeth. Shinobi were supposed to have a good pain tolerance. It wasn't like he hadn't gotten injured before. Then again, he hadn't exactly been a good shinobi for the last few weeks. Maybe months. Maybe years. He'd never been as exceptional as Itachi was.

"What?" Sasuke managed. Naruto and Obito were yelling even louder than before.

The girl cringed and fidgeted. "My name is Sakura," she repeated. Sasuke took a deep breath, trying to lessen the pounding in his head.

"Sasuke," he replied, shoving the thin blanket off of his legs. There was a sharp intake in breath before Sakura also stood, glancing at Sasuke a few times before making up her mind and leaving, and soon her voice joined Naruto's in whatever he was yelling at. Blood rushed to Sasuke's head and he had to blink away black spots.

"Morning," Obito said when he spotted Sasuke carefully making his way outside.

"Hn," Sasuke replied, eyes flitting past the Uchiha and towards the source of all the noise. Kakashi was sitting beside a tree and reading a book while blithely ignoring the two teenagers who were scorning him.

"Help me pack everything up," Obito said. He followed Sasuke's gaze and sighed. "They're supposed to help but they're trying to get Kakashi to help which is not helpful at all."

Sasuke nodded and took down the tent while Obito patted out the fire. Somehow he'd expected that Naruto would be useless, but he hadn't predicted that Obito would be the responsible one of the group. Despite him being an Uchiha and all, the man was not exactly… normal.

"Let's go," Obito said when they were done, cutting short the argument that had somehow started between Naruto and Sakura. Kakashi looked exultant which made Sasuke wonder what exactly he'd said to make the two turn on each other. Both of them snapped their glares towards Obito, fully prepared to start shouting again before simultaneously looking at Sasuke. He didn't know if it was something on his face, or maybe they felt pity on him, because they suddenly looked utterly serene.

·

They'd been walking for maybe ten minutes. Sasuke had to keep fighting off a headache. He relaxed more and more the closer they got towards the mountains and away from the territories of the most dangerous clans. Less chance of him getting caught for traveling with four rogues and less chance of him dying because his father changed his mind and decided to kill him instead of letting him run loose. Obito, Naruto, and Sakura were talking about something in front of him while Kakashi took up the rear, still reading his book. Then Naruto was next to him, looking incredibly bitter.

The blond wasted no time in clarifying what was going on. "I'm not talking to you to be your friend, bastard. I'm only here because Obito said I can't get ramen in the next town unless we don't hate each other. When he asks, say you don't hate me, got it?"

"Got it," Sasuke said, hoping this interaction would end quickly. Naruto stopped dead in his tracks, baffled, before jogging a bit to catch up to him. He had his eyes narrowed, fixed on Sasuke's face. A minute passed, and then two, and Sasuke couldn't take in any more. "What?"

"You're plotting against me," Naruto claimed. Sasuke was ready to stab himself. "You're gonna backstab me, I know it. You're trying to make me suffer."

"I said I got it," Sasuke repeated. "Stop talking to me."

"Obito's going to ask questions," Naruto said, completely disregarding Sasuke. "My favorite food is ramen, my summons are toads, and I don't like Kakashi." Once again, Sasuke wondered what exactly Kakashi had said. "Your turn."

"I don't like ramen, I don't like you, and I don't like talking to you," Sasuke said, tuning out Kakashi's not so subtle cough in the background.

"It's not my fault you decided to freak out and hit your head!" Naruto defended. Sasuke had never gotten so irritated so quickly in his entire life.

"I didn't _freak out_," he hissed, maybe a tiny bit affronted. "And in case you forgot, you're the one who tried to _drown_ me, _threw a bucket_ at me and _fell_ on me."

"It's not my fault you've never seen the sun! You look like an undead creep!"

There were more loud coughs but Sasuke could only stare, completely stunned and wide-eyed.

"You thought I was a zombie," he breathed after a few seconds, turning to stare at the ground in front of him. Keep walking, left right left right left right. "Shit, he's dumber than I imagined."

Naruto let out some half-assed insults but Sasuke was unperturbed. He was contemplating how many brain cells he'd already lost and how many he was going to lose in the next few hours. If he made a run for it now he might manage to stay sane. Who ever said it was a good idea to join up with rogue nin? No one. No one would ever advise something as stupid as that. What was he doing here?

"You're not going to kill—try to kill us, or anything, are you? 'Cause I'd totally beat you up."

Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets, pointedly avoiding acknowledging Naruto. He probably couldn't kill anyone if he tried. He also wouldn't put it past Naruto to beat him up. He would probably deserve it if he tried and failed to kill someone, might even die because his body wasn't a tank, but it wouldn't be a nice way to go.

"Are you ignoring me?" Naruto asked, aghast. "Don't get all high and mighty just 'cause you have a couple weird nicknames!"

"I don't have any weird nicknames," Sasuke said, biting his tongue before he let it slip that Itachi, on occasion, would call him Foolish Little Brother. That was fair, but he couldn't have Naruto calling him that, god forbid Obito or Kakashi.

"Yeah, well, for not having any, Sakura sure seems to know a lot of them." Naruto visibly deflated while he spoke. Sasuke wasn't quite sure what to make of that. He knew that he didn't want to get stuck with any nicknames that a girl might give him and he realized that they'd probably been talking about him this whole time. Whether they were brainstorming about killing him and selling his eyes or the most effective way to make him suffer, he didn't know.

"Hn," Sasuke replied. They lapsed into a tense silence and he didn't doubt that Naruto was cursing him in his head.

When Kakashi suggested that he and Naruto switched positions, since apparently Naruto was a better sensor anyway, Sasuke wasn't sure whether to be relieved or to take it as a warning.


	6. Chapter 6

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When Itachi came home from his mission, Sasuke wasn't there. He'd scoured the whole main district and used whatever sensory ability he had to locate him, but found nothing. He'd been hoping to get Sasuke to write his mission report for him like he usually did. Maybe he'd caught on to Itachi's practice of six years and decided that he didn't want to write anymore so he was hiding. Itachi didn't really blame him if that was the case.

Sasuke didn't show up twenty minutes later to announce his presence while Itachi was wallowing in front of the blank sheet of paper in front of him. He didn't even show up when Itachi noticed that half of his extra scrolls were missing and swore to make Sasuke pay for them. Still, Itachi didn't think much of it, since his baby brother got called out on missions often.

When he went to give in his report and found that his father wasn't around either, he assumed that something important had come up and the clan head needed to be there, and Sasuke had gone with him since Itachi wasn't in the village. They should be back the next night since that was how long diplomatic missions usually lasted, so there was nothing to worry about.

When they weren't home two days later, Itachi figured the mission might've gotten delayed. When he still wasn't home two days after that, he started to get worried.

"Is Sasuke on a mission?" he asked. It was the middle of the day and Mother had just gotten back from visiting the makeshift school. Itachi had actually been asked to tell one of the classes what a real mission actually entailed, but he'd made up some excuse and pawned it off to Sasuke. Since Sasuke wasn't here and the teacher who'd asked him had recognized Itachi's excuse for the refusal it was, they'd asked Mikoto to do it instead.

His mother paused in the middle of removing her coat. "I thought you would know," she said. "Fugaku didn't tell me he was leaving but he and Sasuke both left on the same day. They didn't send a message?"

Itachi shook his head. Mikoto put her coat back on. She mumbled something that sounded like _why couldn't I have had a daughter_ but Itachi couldn't be entirely sure.

"I'll ask the council," she said. "You go ask Shisui and meet me in Fugaku's cave." His cave, otherwise known as Mikoto's ever affectionate name for his father's office. Itachi nodded. His mother didn't look very happy as she walked out.

·

"Is Sasuke on a mission?" Itachi asked once he'd tracked down Shisui. The man was hiding from Inabi, who was shouting something about Shisui having to pay for a lost bet.

Shisui, for some reason having not sensed Itachi or having completely disregarding him upon being sensed, almost fell out of the branch he was situated on. His irises brightened to red on instinct and he very narrowly avoided stabbing Itachi in the face. "_What the fuck, Itachi?_" Shisui hissed. He flicked through some hand signs and a thin, almost invisible barrier sprang up around them. Itachi stared at him. Shisui was clearly indignant as he sighed, looking over his shoulder to make sure that they hadn't been found yet.

"I don't know, Sasuke doesn't tell me shit. I think he's been avoiding me for the last couple weeks, actually."

"He owes you around three thousand ryo," Itachi reminded. Shisui looked confused. "From the 'Who Can Make Their Katon Look More Like Fugaku's Head' competition," he clarified. Shisui looked like he'd had an epiphany.

"We bet on three thousand?" he mumbled whimsically. Itachi nodded. Inabi shouted again, this time much closer, and Shisui snapped out of his daze. "Oh yeah, wait, I don't know where Fugaku-san is either, so tell the council. Ojii-san thinks I know and that I'm not telling him just because I want money. He doesn't want to get off my back about it."

"I don't know where Father is either," Itachi admitted, his mind turning over all the possibilities. "But if you pay Inabi I'll get Kagami-san to leave you alone."

Shisui narrowed his eyes. "You're a terrible friend."

"You're not a man of your word," Itachi deadpanned before flickering away to meet his mother.

She was already at the office waiting for him, clearly not happy with whatever she'd found out. There was a small frown set on her face as she looked over a small stack of papers in her hand. Rather than saying anything, she simply handed them to Itachi upon noticing him.

Itachi became increasingly confused as he flicked through them. They were papers that officiated Shisui becoming the commander of the fourth division. Which made absolutely no sense, considering that Sasuke was already in charge of it. Not only that, but Shisui was the best at reconnaissance out of the entire clan, and promoting him would mean that he would no longer be able to do that. The man had also made it adamantly clear that he had no interest in leading, and that being 'second' (fifth, technically) in status after the head family was already more than he could take.

Itachi looked back up at his mother. She had a steely look on her face and he didn't even have to say anything to know that she knew what he was thinking.

"I'll send word to Sora-ku and look for any trails," Mikoto said sharply. "I know you're worried, but you're going to do your job as heir until the tracking unit arrives. Understood?"

Itachi took one look at the documents piled on his missing father's desk and wanted to argue. He needed to find the clan head and look after his baby brother. Unfortunately, nothing good ever came out of arguing with Mikoto.

"Yes, Mother."

The older woman nodded, eyes now glinting with a faint red glow. She left and Itachi sat down at Father's desk, unsettled and nervous and exponentially worried, and wondered what excuse he would make up to tell everyone this time.


	7. Chapter 7

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"So, Sasuke," Kakashi said. He was slouched and looked nonchalant and for the first time Sasuke noticed that he wasn't carrying anything. He didn't mention it, though. The impression Sasuke had of him so far told him that he'd conned someone else into carrying his stuff. Probably Naruto, since he was the most obvious moron. "Do you know where we're going?"

No, he didn't. Kakashi would probably mock him for that. Maybe. He didn't actually seem that bad, but it was pretty idiotic to decide to travel with rogues without knowing where they were going. Sasuke also didn't know what they planned to do or what they already did, but he wasn't saying that, either. He opted to stay silent.

"Thought so," Kakashi announced cheerily. "We're passing by Senju territory so Sakura can—"

"We're passing through _where_?" Sasuke asked, startled. He couldn't possibly have heard right. These were rogues. Rogues weren't supposed to go anywhere near claimed land. That was like asking to get killed. They had an Uchiha among them. Two, now that he was, possibly (probably) temporarily, part of the group.

"Near Senju territory, but—"

"We're passing through _Senju_ land?" Sasuke could hear the way his voice pitched up by a few octaves. "We can't go through there. I can't go through there. That's—"

A little late, a map formed in Sasuke's head and his breath quickened. Laws were laws and banishment was banishment. He couldn't just ignore that. Even just passing too close to the outskirts of patrol camps was a death wish. Itachi liked to complain about Sasuke's terrible tendency of 'toeing the line' whenever they had a mission together and most (all, but Sasuke wasn't saying anything) of the time he was right, but this was one risk that he wasn't willing to take. "We're going to have to pass the Uchiha to get there. I can't go back. You—I can't go back. There's no way—"

Kakashi looked a little confused, but mostly bored while he waited for Sasuke to let him finish. He put a hand on his shoulder but Sasuke jerked away, stopping to face the silver haired nin. Despite the garish orange bandana that he had tied around his head to cover his left eye (or eye socket, Sasuke couldn't be sure), the man managed to look imposing. It didn't help that Sasuke was only eye level with his shoulder. It was a lot easier to talk to Obito. Now that Sasuke thought about it, Obito also happened to be shorter than Kakashi was. Him being a rogue and telling Sasuke that they were going to walk into a place that might decide to incinerate them all also didn't help.

"I'm not going past there," Sasuke said, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. He did his best to regain some sense of self-control. Panicking was stupid. Panicking was for idiots who weren't good for anything else.

"No one is making you," Kakashi said, looking at Sasuke critically. "I was about to say that we'll be taking the path North of the mountains."

Oh.

Sasuke swallowed, eyes flicking back to Naruto who had also stopped and looked confused. He noticed through their chakra signatures that Obito and Sakura weren't walking anymore either. He was an idiot, making assumptions before he had all the information. His father really had made the right call by getting rid of him. This type of shit got people killed and the clan couldn't afford that.

"I—Oh," Sasuke said. That was… embarrassing? Not really. Sort of. He felt indefinitely more stupid. He shuffled a little and stood stiffly until he felt the two who were leading the group start moving again. Only then did Sasuke get out of Kakashi's way and let the man pass him.

"Keep moving, bastard," Naruto said, giving Sasuke a hearty shove. Sasuke was fully prepared to break his arm or shove him into the dirt or something equally violent, but his nerves felt like they were grinding together. Even if he evaded the Uchiha, they were still heading towards the adversary clan.

The last battle Sasuke had had with the Senju was when he was fifteen, shortly after he'd killed Orochimaru, and there were no good memories from it. Although relations between the two clans had eased significantly in the last few months, things were still tense. And news didn't travel quickly between the Uchiha and other clans, unless it was about Itachi killing someone, or Shisui killing someone, or someone dying, or killing a lot of other people. The point was that other clans probably hadn't heard of Sasuke's exile yet, and no amount of diplomacy could save any lives if the son of the Uchiha clan head showed up on Senju territory unannounced with a bunch of rogues.

"Hey, pale ghost fucker, I'm talking to you."

Sasuke jerked his body forward to keep moving. If they were traveling North of the mountains, then he had little to no chance of successfully outrunning Obito and his crew to get to the Uzumaki, so he crossed that off of his mental list of fallbacks. Unfortunately, _Uzumaki_ was the only thing on the list. He might be able to get to the border of the Land of Hot Water, but then what? It was a generally peaceful nation and the clans there weren't too hostile, so they wouldn't take kindly to any Fire Country denizens. Definitely not any from the major clans, and _definitely_ not any Uchiha.

"Hey, asshole!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke's eyes snapped towards him.

"What?!" he snarled. Oh yes, Sasuke was doubtlessly on edge.

"Let go of me!"

Sasuke came to the realization that he had Naruto's forearm in a vice grip in front of him. Why? Probably an instinctual reaction to the kunai that Naruto was holding in the hand connected to that arm, which just happened to be poised in front of Sasuke's face. Sasuke ignored the trembling in his free hand. As much as Naruto and Obito and Kakashi and Sakura probably, realistically wanted to kill him, he'd maybe hoped a little that they didn't actually… want to. Or would try to. Or at least pretend to tolerate him for a little longer than a day. Then again, not many people could tolerate him for longer than a day. Even if he'd punched Naruto, the bruise was already gone. It couldn't have even hurt that much.

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek before he could ask Naruto to slit his neck instead of stab his face. He loosened his grip and Naruto yanked his hand free. The blond quietly compared Sasuke to an overdramatic cactus, but Sasuke figured that he wasn't supposed to hear that.

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**(Obito's actually taller than Kakashi but Kakashi has taller hair and I'm not sorry)**


	8. Chapter 8

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"Naruto, why don't you start by telling us why you tried to stab Sasuke," Obito said that night. They were at the base of a mountain near a river formed from melted snow. The risk of getting sick didn't deter Sasuke from stripping and rubbing his skin raw as soon as Obito announced that they were stopping. Then he'd changed, washed the clothes he'd been wearing, and had worked with the other Uchiha to catch some fish to eat. They'd come back to the camp and Sasuke had sat down. He knew he was trapped as soon as he saw Naruto sitting across from him and Obito's misshapen smile.

"You _saw_ that?" Naruto sounded alarmed. Sasuke didn't blame him. Not only had they been in the back while Obito was leading, but Sasuke himself had also forgotten about the botched conversation that had occurred a few hours prior. He hadn't thought about it at all since he already knew he'd fucked up and dwelling on it wasn't productive in the slightest.

"I don't like bullying in this household," Obito said ominously with his arms crossed. "This is the second time in two days. Explain yourself."

"I asked why he freaked out again—"

"I didn't _freak out_," Sasuke hissed at him. "What the fuck is wrong with—"

"We don't interrupt each other," Obito informed him. Sasuke scoffed.

"You just interrupted me."

"Yes, but you interrupted Naruto."

"If I break the rules it doesn't suddenly validate others to break the rules as well." So what if Sasuke was using a slightly twisted version of the elders' lines. They worked just fine on him when he'd been younger.

"Anyway," Obito responded after a few defeated moments. "Naruto, continue."

"I said, 'Why'd you freak out this time'," Naruto started again, emphasizing the 'freak out'. Sasuke grit his teeth. "But the bastard didn't say anything, so I asked why he's such an asshole, and he still didn't say anything, so I had to get his attention."

"By trying to stab him!?" Sakura yelled, walking up from behind Naruto. Sasuke had no idea where she'd come from or how she'd heard them, but he couldn't bring himself to worry about it. "You're gonna get us all killed!" She clocked Naruto in the back of his head, sending him into a frenzy of complaints. Sasuke felt a little sympathy for him since he wasn't a sadist or anything, but that didn't mean it was bad to watch the moron get put in his place. Or to know that Naruto hadn't actually been trying to kill him. Whatever.

"Sorry, fine, can we eat now?" Naruto muttered spitefully. Sakura stomped off, presumably to find Kakashi.

Obito was staring at Sasuke expectantly. He pretended not to notice. "Yeah," he said, nudging one of the stones around the fire with his foot. Now as long as Obito didn't say that he had to verbally accept the apology or something like that, he could proudly keep this day's rating in the positive integers.

Suffice to say that Sasuke was disappointed.

·

He got stuck with first watch. Not that he would've slept anyway, but it would've been nice to relax for a little while. This wasn't a mission and they weren't heading to a battle but since Sasuke never went traveling otherwise, he was uneasy and apprehensive of an attack that wouldn't come.

Sasuke climbed up to the top branches of a tree and sat down, leaning against the trunk. He closed his eyes and took in a long breath through his nose. He released his hold on his chakra, letting it loose to disperse and mingle with the nature energy around him. Like this he had a larger range of 'vision' and he wouldn't have to strain his eyes to see in the darkness of the forest below.

A few minutes passed, enough time for Sasuke to get uncomfortable and stiff, but it couldn't have been longer than an hour. Someone was climbing the tree, chakra huge and monstrous and bright. Sasuke felt a frown working its way onto his face and braced himself for the incoming headache.

"Alright, bastard," Naruto said quietly, swinging himself up onto the branch Sasuke was sitting on so that they were facing each other. The branch was thin and his weight combined with Sasuke's made it tilt dangerously. Moonlight had a strange effect on Naruto, he decided. His hair looked paler and almost the same color as Kakashi's, but his eyes looked darker and duller. If anything, Sasuke thought that his eyes would be more reflective.

"What?" he snapped when Naruto didn't say anything. "Go back to sleep, moron."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. "Where the fuck did you come from?" he asked.

"Why are you asking?" Sasuke questioned suspiciously. It wasn't as if they'd known each other that long. Naruto obviously wasn't trying to make friends. He was a rogue and Sasuke didn't particularly like him anyway. Naruto scoffed.

"Everyone thinks you're some big deal here to kill us or something and Sakura said I shouldn't do this, but I know you're actually just a little bitch. So why the fuck."

The hairs on the back of Sasuke's neck stood up. That… was the last thing he was expecting. Why would he be here to kill them? Surely they would know…

Of course they didn't fucking know. Sasuke hadn't said anything. This was the entire reason he was worried about waltzing over to Senju territory. Suddenly the shit Obito had asked him back when he found him made sense. Sakura had been so stiff when she was fixing up his head because she was _afraid_ of him. If Kakashi thought Sasuke was some kind of spy too, he hadn't shown it. He seemed like the best shinobi out of the lot. And Naruto was just a moron so he didn't worry about the fact that most clans would just annihilate any rogues if they caught sight of them. Or the smartest of them since he'd tried to kill Sasuke and then fight him as soon as he was conscious. Now it was hard to tell.

"What clan are _you_ from?" Sasuke asked instead of answering. Naruto looked taken aback and mumbled something that Sasuke hardly heard.

"Uzumaki Naruto, son of Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato."

Every single one of Sasuke's bodily functions ceased for a moment.

"As in the Yellow Flash and the kyuubi jinchuuriki?" Sasuke asked, voice nothing more than a harsh whisper. "As in, the head of the Uzumaki clan."

The Yellow Flash of the Whirlpools was feared in the Five Great Nations. Sasuke particularly admired him, and this was no secret among the Uchiha. As embarrassing at it was, he was the man that him and Shisui first 'bonded' over. Sasuke was maybe four and Shisui would've been twelve at the time. Namikaze Minato was supposedly from a civilian clan but somehow learned a jutsu that belonged to the Senju. Obviously, the Senju were vile so it wasn't like they wanted to recreate the jutsu itself. They were more awed by the reaction time and speed the man had. By then Shisui was already the fastest member of the clan and in exchange for Sasuke guilt-tripping adults into giving him money to give to Shisui, his cousin taught him all of his tricks.

And as creepy as it might be, the Uchiha kept tabs on the jinchuuriki of the kyuubi. To be fair, so did the Senju, or so Sasuke had heard. Uchiha Madara had been able to summon it, and the sharingan could control it, so it made some sense. They'd kept track of the fox until just a few years ago, since there was no longer a strong incentive to do it after his great grandfather had passed. There were occasional checks, of course, and it was supposed to be housed in Uzumaki Kushina since Sasuke was born.

Naruto looked a little pained when he nodded.

"Fuck." Sasuke paused. He wasn't about to blurt his admiration for the moron's parents. "Why are you out here?"

Naruto was the heir. There was no reason for him to be traveling with a bunch of rogues. Why would his clan let him do that? Unless he was out here to kill someone. Sasuke had done something similar, leaving the clan for a few years to kill Orochimaru. But Sasuke wasn't the heir. Naruto was. He wouldn't—shouldn't get a mission like that.

"Kakashi and Obito know my dad. Clan life is a fucking pain anyway. Who are you?"

This only made Sasuke more confused. So Naruto just left… because he wanted to? Had Kakashi and Obito met the Yellow Flash before or after he married into the Uzumaki? Obito was an Uchiha, so how did he meet some random civilian? If they'd met Minato after his marriage, then how did he just let his son go along with a couple of rogues?

"Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke answered, drawing his knees to his chest and trying to drown out his thoughts. "Now get lost."

"Uchiha Sasuke," Naruto said like he was testing the name. He had this new look of determination on his face that Sasuke didn't like or understand. "You really _are_ an asshole, genetically and all that. Plus, your face has been giving me a bad impression."

Sasuke didn't know whether that meant that Naruto had seen his mother in battle before or if he was just calling him ugly. He decided he'd go with the former until proven otherwise. He still needed to make it clear that he'd never seen Naruto before yesterday. "I've never seen you before," Sasuke stated flatly. Naruto grinned.

"Yeah, but I've seen your brother."

Oh. Sasuke should've expected that. Within the clan, comparisons were usually drawn between him and his mom. Apparently his resemblance to her was so strong that it completely overshadowed his resemblance to Itachi or Itachi's resemblance to her. Outside of the clan, anyone who saw both brothers were incapacitated or dead before they had a chance to say anything. But from that outer perspective, it was much easier to draw a line between the brothers. After all, they were _brothers_, both boys, worked on almost the exact same missions, and there was a much smaller age difference between them than between them and Mother.

"I still don't get why you're here," Naruto continued like Sasuke hasn't been in the middle of thinking.

"I don't get why _you're_ still here," Sasuke bit back. "I told you to get lost."

He would've clarified that he wasn't here to kill anyone, nor did he plan on it. However, Naruto was annoying and had completely ruined Sasuke's perception of the merry band of rogues. He'd already told him to leave, so holding him back was counterproductive.

"Heh, only because you look like you're gonna cry."

Scratch that, Sasuke was going to torch this idiot and stomp his remains into a fine powder, clan wars be damned.

"Die in—"

Naruto hopped down the tree and was gone in an instant. Sasuke slammed the back of his head against the tree trunk. That was a lot of shit that he didn't want to think about. Naruto was an Uzumaki. Of all the things—no. No. Not in the middle of the night after the miserable day this had been. Sasuke bit his thumb and summoned one of his hawks, quietly telling it to help him finish his watch. Like hell he would be able to finish it competently.


	9. Chapter 9

Two days later, sick of the silence and being ignored, Naruto fell into step beside Sasuke. He still didn't like the bastard and wouldn't hesitate to punch him if given the excuse, but that didn't mean he had to express his dislike at every corner. Sasuke's bastard-ness was hereditary so he couldn't really blame the guy. The first time Naruto had met him he'd been unconscious. He'd thought that Sasuke was a corpse that Kakashi-sensei had put into his tent as a twisted revenge plan for something. When the corpse _moved_, he'd been scared almost as badly as he was whenever his mom got angry.

"Are you gonna tell me why you're here yet or do I need to wait a couple more days?" Naruto asked. Kakashi-sensei and Obito and Sakura were acting so unnatural that it made him uncomfortable to even talk to them, all because Sasuke was an Uchiha and they didn't want to restart the Clan Wars by accidentally making fun of his shoes. It would be so much easier to just _ask _him if he was with them for some super important mission to make Obito suffer for leaving the clan of his own accord. Obito was the one who always preached talking, but here he was being an absolute fucking coward.

"Obito kidnapped me, for one," Sasuke said, not even glancing at him. Naruto really did not want to know what had gone down when Obito and Sasuke had first met, so he altered his question.

"Okay, but why'd you _stay_? You don't like me and you don't talk to Sakura. Obito apparently kidnapped you and Kakashi's personality is basically you except less… shadow-y. You don't like ramen which is all we eat. You keep—"

"I don't have many other options. Regardless, if you don't want me here that badly I can just leave."

"I didn't say _that_." The last thing Naruto wanted was to make someone else feel unwanted. "Just go back to your clan if you don't have anywhere else to go."

"I can't," Sasuke replied, gaze dropping to the floor instead of straight ahead. "I was. Hn. Dismissed of my status as an Uchiha. Technically."

"Wait." Naruto paused, allowing this to digest. "Wait, wait, hold up. You mean you were _kicked out_?"

"Technically."

"Wha—why?! Are you mentally unstable?! Fucking shit, you are! Are you _actually _going to kill us?! I can't believe Sakura was ri—!"

"Shut up!" Sasuke hissed, turning sharply to glare at him with the intensity of a hundred katon. "I'm not mentally unstable! I'm just—bad at… being a shinobi. Stop saying I'm going to kill you."

Naruto stared. He had no idea what else to do. He couldn't believe that Sasuke had been kicked out of his clan because he was a bad shinobi, not after what Sakura had told him. There was just no way. He had to have some other motive and that was just a really, really bad cover story. But Sasuke also looked like he'd just gotten kicked a couple times and Naruto's intuition told him that Sasuke wasn't lying. If Naruto had terrible ninja skills at everything else then the one thing he was good at was reading people.

"Damn you," Naruto muttered, once again focusing on the trail. They hadn't been that loud and they were a good distance behind the others, so he doubted they'd heard. "Now you're making me feel bad." It must've been a recent thing, Sasuke getting kicked out. Otherwise he would've already gotten a message from his dad to be on the lookout for any rogue Uchiha with his own agenda to follow. At least there were no kekkei genkai hunters out looking for Sasuke specifically.

_Yet._

_Shut up._

"Put on some kind of pity act and I'll burn off your eyebrows."

At least Sasuke made himself very, very easy to hate.

* * *

They arrived in a town situated in a mountain pass the next day. There was an inn, which was a pleasant surprise for a small, out-of-the-way place like this. Naruto was sitting on a chair in the lobby, arms crossed and having what he thought was a staring contest with Sasuke who was standing across the room. Kakashi-sensei and Sakura were in charge of making a list of all the supplies they needed to restock. Obito was counting up their combined money at the front desk, ignoring the ill-tempered receptionist with enthusiasm.

"We can either get a couple rooms to sleep and shower or we can get food and supplies, but we don't have enough money for both."

Naruto blinked, completely forgetting about the staring contest for a moment. Usually they were completely broke no matter where they stopped and would need to take at least three small, local missions for money. The only person who could possibly have money out of them was Sasuke. Of course he was rich, why wouldn't he be? With a quick glance Naruto found that Kakashi-sensei and Sakura were staring at Sasuke too.

"What?" he asked, almost immediately uncomfortable with attention. His narrowed eyes flicked from person to person, eventually settling on Kakashi-sensei.

The masked shinobi hummed. "You just have a lot of money."

Sasuke seemed to think this over. After a few seconds he scoffed and muttered, "Not anymore." Naruto would never admit to laughing.

·

Sakura demanded they take the rooms and buy supplies later. Naruto appreciated taking a warm shower with real soap and the miracle known as shampoo after weeks on the road.

He split up from the others to scout for any ramen shops before searching for a mission. Most civilians would jump at a shinobi who offered their services. It was usually less expensive and far less time consuming then sending a messenger to any of the clans. Bookstores almost always had something that needed to get done, whether it was a delivery or a pick-up or cleaning out the basement. Naruto headed over to the one he'd seen near the middle of town, but Kakashi-sensei materialized in front of him before he could get there.

"I thought Sasuke was with you," Kakashi-sensei said, glancing behind them. Sakura and Obito appeared a moment later, but no Sasuke. Naruto was about to get offended and say that his chakra felt ten times better than the prickly bastard when the fucker himself walked out of the bookstore. He had a scroll in his hand, rolling it shut as he walked towards them.

"What's that?" Naruto asked. Sasuke gave him an unimpressed look.

"A scroll."

Naruto was ready to throw down with the bastard right then. Obito put a hand on his shoulder as a warning. He was half-tempted to tell him that Sasuke wasn't part of the Uchiha clan anymore and that beating him up a little wouldn't throw the country into another few decades of bloodshed. No one would try to stop him then.

Instead, he drew on his mature side and took a deep breath. "I want to punch you," he said. Obito was always saying that he should vocalize his problems and look for a solution before acting.

"Fair," Sasuke said without hesitance. "I need to deliver this."

"We found an escort that should only take a few hours," Kakashi-sensei informed.

"I'll go with Kakashi-sensei and Obito!" Sakura blurted quickly. Naruto wanted to argue, but he also wanted to fight Sasuke and was the only one who didn't fear being murdered.

"I'll get you back for this," Naruto warned before following Sasuke's example and flickering away.

* * *

They'd barely been running for an hour when they realized they were being followed. They came to a stop near a waterfall, standing back-to-back. Naruto's senses had been clouding over for a while, but only in the last few seconds had it become noticeable. It was as if his head was wrapped in sludge.

Sasuke shifted, probably drawing his sword. "Don't get close to the water," he warned quietly. Naruto felt his skin prickle from the heat of the fireball that went up behind him. Two of their pursuers emerged from the trees in front of him. Naruto barely had time to summon any shadow clones before he was locked in combat. More enemies poured out of the greenery, each one adding another layer of muck over Naruto's senses.

The attackers were vicious, but Naruto was better. Within minutes the six of them were down, sustaining harsh bruises to their stomachs and heads. When he turned around to see if he could assist Sasuke, he was half expecting the burning mess he was greeted with. Sasuke was standing on the river with his back to the waterfall. A semicircle of flames swept up behind the five he was fighting, keeping them trapped or forced to run up the river and into Naruto.

What Naruto did _not _expect was the massive raiton that Sasuke used. The electricity traveled upstream and wrapped around the attackers, paralyzing them in an instant. Sasuke shouldn't have had enough chakra to pull that off, but instead of collapsing from exhaustion he looked fine and his chakra level remained completely stagnant. With a start Naruto realized that Sasuke must've been suppressing his chakra the whole time he was with them, because his presence as a shinobi was _tiny_. This created a layer of uneasiness that definitely hadn't been there before.

Sasuke walked backwards to the riverbank with his sword up defensively. Naruto could understand why. Even though the six he'd been fighting were unconscious and four of the five that Sasuke had been fighting were being washed down the waterfall, the murk over his senses still hadn't lifted. He walked towards Sasuke to ask why the fuck there were so many bandits after a tiny scroll from a bookstore.

"That was fun."

Naruto almost, _almost _screamed. The last bandit on the river fucking molted, like he was hatching out of his skin. Naruto lifted his hands to summon a few more clones. Suddenly, he couldn't see. His mouth and nose were blocked by slime. He couldn't breathe or think or see, and then he was numb. He felt his chakra get yanked into his hand, didn't know how or why, but then he couldn't feel _anything_. In the next moment he could breathe and see again, but there was no relief because he was falling down the waterfall, and then he was unconscious.


	10. Chapter 10

The people who'd attacked them were stronger than Sasuke had anticipated. Whatever sensory-blocking capabilities they had affected movement speed too, as Sasuke had found out when he tried to rush them—knock them out without starting a goddamn forest fire—and ended up feeling like his bones were grinding together. Whatever jutsu they used didn't have a chakra nature but Sasuke had been able to get rid of its effects by channeling lightning chakra through his body. This exhibited an earth chakra affinity. With so many earth affinities in one group, Sasuke was lead to believe that the bandits hailed from the Land of Earth.

The scroll he was carrying was just a storage scroll with a small gold statue in it. It was an old relic being held by the owner of the bookstore. It was nothing to warrant Earth shinobi, rogue or otherwise, to come all the way to the eastern lands. There was far more to them than just wanting money, but Sasuke didn't want to get involved in anything. He wanted to finish this mission as quickly as possible and get a peaceful night of sleep.

When the last attacker had shot that sludge at Naruto's face, Sasuke hadn't thought twice about electrocuting the moron to get rid of it. But then he'd shot more and more and Sasuke had to launch a full-blown chidori nagashi to blow it off and knock out the assailant. Unfortunately it'd also knocked out Naruto and destroyed the rock below them, throwing them both down the waterfall.

Sasuke fought to stay conscious. He couldn't move his left hand for whatever reason, which made it that much harder to keep himself afloat. He looped his right arm under Naruto's arms and pressed the idiot's back to his chest to keep a grip on him. After a few moments of desperately searching for a place to stand and spitting out water, Sasuke managed to find his footing and pull both of them out of the river.

"Moron," Sasuke breathed, heaving Naruto's deadweight body onto the pebbles. He dropped the blond once he was completely out of the water, but instead of being released of the strain on his arms, Sasuke was yanked down as well. Sharp rocks dug into his side, drawing out a pained hiss when he righted himself. He kicked Naruto's legs away from him with no sympathy, only then getting a view of the sphere of dried sludge that encompassed his left hand and Naruto's right.

In that moment, Sasuke really didn't give a damn about what the thing was. He flicked away any offending, large, sharp-looking pebbles and let himself collapse right next to Naruto.

Sasuke pushed any bleak thoughts out of his mind, giving himself a moment of rest. The adrenaline was wearing off and the cold was setting in. His clothes were sticking uncomfortably to his skin, so as soon as Naruto got up he planned on using a katon to dry them off. He didn't know if it was possible to do with one hand, but he could try.

"How long have we been here?" Naruto asked. It might've been seconds or minutes or an hour later. Sasuke wasn't sure.

"A few minutes," he replied anyway. He was guessing, but it couldn't have been too long because the sun was in roughly the same position as it had been when they'd stopped to fight. Rather than responding, Naruto groaned.

"My arm feels like shit. What did you do?"

"It wasn't me, it's that thing," Sasuke said, which was extremely unhelpful. Naruto grunted, clearly lacking the energy required to complain about the vague response. For a couple more moments, they lay in complete silence.

"What the fuck is that?" Naruto asked, shifting his right arm. "I can't move my fingers."

"I don't know. Try tearing it."

Naruto sat up. Sasuke didn't see him stab the sphere of goop with a kunai, but he could hear the dull thud of the impact. Naruto yanked the thing, forcing Sasuke to get up as well.

"It's so fucking—" Naruto didn't finish his sentence, instead trying to stab the thing again. Sasuke tried to get some lightning chakra into his left hand to no avail.

"It's taking in our chakra and disrupting the flow in our bodies," Sasuke muttered, eyes now red and giving off a dim glow. Naruto opened his mouth, looked at him, and closed his mouth. "Why's your chakra so uneven?" he asked before he had a chance to think. It was disrespectful to examine another person's chakra, much less comment on it. He wasn't on good terms with Naruto to begin with.

"Don't look at my chakra!" the blond snapped, but he looked more anxious than angry and was no longer looking at Sasuke's face. "How are we supposed to get rid of it if it can't be cut and absorbs our jutsu?"

"It should eventually reach its maximum capacity and break." Sasuke deactivated the sharingan and stared at the sludge orb in dismay. "It's a hindrance, not a threat."

"Are you kidding? I'm literally stuck to your undead ass for the next five hours." Sasuke didn't know where Naruto had gotten that statistic from. He also didn't give two shits.

"It might take a couple of days, actually," Sasuke corrected. He stood up. Naruto quickly followed suit. As much as the moron clearly didn't like him, it was obvious that he was avoiding a real fight.

"Fucker." Sasuke wasn't sure whether Naruto was referring to him or the sludge. "Come on."

"Stand still for a second," Sasuke said instead of moving. He formed a half tiger seal but none of his chakra shaped the way it should've. "Give me your hand," he said. He didn't want to be completely soaked for the rest of the day. The fire above had probably dissipated and he was willing to try anything.

Naruto was hesitant but must've understood the gist of what Sasuke was attempting, because he complied without a single inquiry. "Just put a little chakra into it. I'll do the rest," he explained. He listed off the hand seals as they did them. The chakra formed, and although it stuttered slightly, Sasuke was almost positive the jutsu was going to work.

Sasuke took a deep breath and blew. The fire that came out was pitiful compared to what he could normally pull off, but it did the job. It didn't taper off when he ran out of breath thanks to the chakra thread he'd connected to its center. It was easier to sustain by feeding it chakra that way. Using chakra thread was a technique that most Uchiha were taught because it was the only way to sustain a fire without physical fuel. Any other uses of chakra thread were just perks that came along with that.

"Dry off first."

·

It took them thirty minutes to get to their intended destination. In that time, a sense of calm settled over Sasuke that he couldn't shake off. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he _should_ be more attentive, _should_ be suspicious of this feeling, but he couldn't bring himself to act on it. Every time he thought _I should be thinking about something_, anything would be fine since his mind was utterly empty, it was countered by We_ fought the enemy and everything's fine_. Everything was _not_ fine, and he _knew_ that. Something was wrong. But they'd already fought off the enemy, so they would be okay.

It was a castle. Sasuke didn't understand why someone would live in a castle so far into the mountains. The person who owned the castle or wanted the scroll didn't meet them. Sasuke didn't expect them to, since shinobi were of a much lower class than royalty. If the people who lived here were royalty at all. However, they were offered a tour of the place by one of the staff. Sasuke didn't say that he wanted to get back to the inn and sleep; he could hardly hold one train of thought for more than a few seconds. He vaguely heard a mellow yes from Naruto between spacing out.

"—although most of them have been covered, the Hyuuga seal is engraved on most of the walls. Those shinobi lived in these lands once."

The Hyuuga were a bunch of uptight fuckwads. The tour ended and they were paid. Sasuke and Naruto managed to use the bathroom without thoroughly embarrassing each other. Then they were on their way back to the town. Time flew right over Sasuke's head until the serene empty-headedness subsided. He knew they'd just ruined or forgotten something, but he had no idea what. He knew that Naruto knew it too, because he'd started numerous sentences that he never finished.

By then, they were right outside the town. The sun was just starting to set. They went back to the inn and welcomed sweet sleep without even half a care that they were still stuck together.

* * *

Sakura outstretched her hand over the small dining table in their room at the inn. Sasuke stared at it. He knew that she wanted the money they'd gotten from yesterday's mission, but it was inside his bag and he wasn't in the mood to get it while eating. Apparently Sakura had asked for it when they'd walked inside last night, but neither him nor Naruto had noticed.

Naruto was still attached to him, unfortunately. Unlike Sasuke, Naruto couldn't use both hands with relative ease and seemingly lost all hand-eye coordination when using a spoon. It was worse when Sasuke considered that they couldn't take a shower or even change shirts as long as the forsaken sludge sphere remained. He had to pray that Naruto wouldn't spill anything on him.

"Sasuke kept the money somewhere," Naruto said before stuffing a whole slice of bread into his mouth. Sakura blinked and retracted her arm.

"Oh," she said. "That's fine, then."

Sasuke had been noticing the leniency given to him by Sakura since Naruto had told him that they all thought he was going to kill them. He didn't want to explain that that wasn't his plan, though, so he kept his mouth shut. If their acting got too annoying, he would. But until then he hardly cared what they thought.

"So, what happened yesterday?" Sakura asked, turning acutely to face Naruto. He'd finally finished his food, so Sasuke relaxed a little. Kakashi also seemed curious, as they'd seen the sludge and the way that him and Naruto were making no effort to get rid of it.

"There were some assholes after the scroll and we handled 'em, but one got this stuck to us." Naruto lifted his arm and put their hands on the table to display. "The bastard says we can't break it so we're gonna have to wait until it falls off or something."

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked, concern crossing her expression. "I could try to take it off."

"Uh, sure," Naruto answered, extending their hands further across the table. Sakura examined the thick substance, poking it in different places. She tugged at it and occasionally Sasuke could feel her forcing an enormous amount of chakra into it with pinpoint precision. Despite this, the sludge didn't seem affected.

"I've never seen anything like this," she said, partially in frustration and partially in awe. "Did the person who attacked you get away?"

And that's when Sasuke remembered what he'd forgotten. They hadn't gone back to tie up the bandits or bring them to prison. He glanced surreptitiously to Naruto, only to find the blond doing the same to him.

"We knocked them out," Naruto said, scratching the back of his head. "But we kinda just left 'em there."

Sakura sighed, as if she'd expected that. The conversation ended there as Obito walked out of the bathroom. Sasuke envied him because he was not attached to a moronic blue-eyed fiend.

* * *

"So, you're Uzumaki," Sasuke said casually. He was spinning a shuriken around his finger while they walked. This was definitely not a nervous habit and he was not nervous because he was starting a conversation with Naruto about a topic of interest.

"Yeah, and you're U—" Naruto paused in his retort and winced briefly. "Uh, you're Sasuke."

Sasuke chose to ignore that. "Do you know any techniques that your parents use?" he asked. He didn't add '_particularly your dad_' because… he was just curious about Naruto, that was all.

"I can make seals and stuff like that, but they're pretty boring so I don't use 'em that much. A bunch of Dad's things are based around his hiraishin and I'm just not that fast, ya know. I can use the rasengan, though."

Anything redeemable about Naruto was diminished in that moment. Of course he thought seals were boring. He didn't seem all that intrigued by speed techniques either. Sasuke was at a loss for what Naruto _would_ find fascinating if he thought that those two things were boring.

"What about you?" Naruto asked. Their pace was slowing as they fell further and further behind Kakashi, Obito, and Sakura.

"What?"

"What'd you learn from your parents?"

Sasuke looked down, a wave of anguish washing over him. He took a deep breath or three to settle his nerves; he wasn't going to start throwing himself a pity party at the mere mention of the clan.

"Father taught me katon and Mother taught me raiton," he said. "I also started learning kenjutsu with them."

"You know what I was gonna ask—Before, I mean—why're you suppressing your chakra? Gave me another fucking heart attack when you used that huge-ass lightning thing outta nowhere."

"Yes, let me just become a beacon for angry clan members. Great idea."

"No one's gonna sense you way out here."

Sasuke snorted. Karin had tracked him from all the way across the country not too many years ago. There were plenty of other sensory shinobi that could do at least half of that. He was sure that Naruto was suppressing his own chakra as well, so the moron had no business asking.

"Then stop suppressing yours."

Naruto didn't reply.


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note: I may have forgotten that this was posted here.**

* * *

More than a week had passed since Sasuke and Father had disappeared and there was still no word from either of them. Itachi wasn't part of any tracker units but had managed to weasel his way into the one searching for Sasuke with sheer willpower. He had pawned off his duties to Mother with a fledgling of guilt as he was far more worried about Sasuke than getting an extra supply of shuriken. While Mother had initially been part of a tracking team, she'd taken up office when Itachi had demanded to go searching for his little brother. He couldn't be more grateful to her.

The two cats sent from Sora-ku were leading the way. They'd caught a strong scent trail and apparently Sasuke was travelling with a few other people now. The scents of those people were not discernable, but the confirmation that Sasuke was okay and _alive_ almost brought Itachi to tears.

Yashiro said he could sense something that might be Sasuke, but it was far out of his range and barely distinguishable. Still, it meant that they were getting close. Itachi was going to grill Sasuke when he found him. Why had he left? Who was he with? Where was he going? Why not leave a message? Why did he take all his belongings? Where was Father?

(Father was evidently nowhere near where Sasuke was because the team that was tracking him had gone off in the opposite direction.)

Then, after making sure Sasuke wasn't dying, he would pulverize him. No, no—not pulverize—just have a little combat practice with him. A brotherly spar.

"The amount of nature energy in this area is far less than normal," Tekka said, examining the seal he'd wrapped around his wrist before they'd left camp. Tekka was the up-and-coming Uchiha seal master, being just a year younger than Itachi. What he was wearing was allegedly a monitoring seal (Itachi didn't know shit about seals or how they worked, so he'd have to believe that Tekka was telling the truth) that was designed to pick up on Sasuke's distinct stormy lightning-fire chakra signature. "I'm hardly picking up anything."

The cats usually didn't use chakra to track, so they hardly cared. However, the other three shinobi all turned to Yashiro for an explanation. "There's plenty of nature energy here," he said, eyes squinting in confusion. He frowned and made a hand seal, presumably trying to figure out what was wrong. His brows furrowed the longer he focused which is what worried Itachi more than anything else.

"It's all trapped underground," he finally said. "There's something absorbing it, but I can't tell what it is."

"Is it a threat?" Itachi asked, eyeing the area around them warily. Inabi already had his sword out. For a lack of nature energy, the wildlife sure seemed to be flourishing. Yashiro grunted after a few moments which Itachi took as a no.

There was a looming castle within their sight when the cats mentioned that their senses were becoming disoriented. They couldn't tell in what way or why, but they didn't seem to deem it important. Itachi had zoned out by then and probably would've let the statement fly over his head if Tekka hadn't forced them all to stop for a moment.

"I'm placing warding seals on all of you," Tekka said, his hands digging through his bag for ink. "It'll be easiest to just draw it on your backs, so shirts off."

The cats didn't come down from the trees, instead choosing to laze in the sun while the Uchiha did what they needed to do. Tekka worked fast. Itachi was the last one to get a seal. He felt the cold brush sliding across his back, but it dried just as quickly as it came. He felt lighter once Tekka backed away, as if something had been squeezing him before and now it wasn't.

"Are you not going to apply one?" Itachi asked, tugging his shirt back over his head.

"I already have a general one in place," Tekka replied. He looked up at the tree where both cats had decided to take a nap. "You two also need one," he said loudly. Denka's ear twitched which was a clear indication that he was awake enough to listen. Tekka jumped up beside him and crouched down, brush in hand. "Either you cooperate or we'll hold you down to apply this."

"Fine, nya," Denka said indignantly with one eye open. He rolled over onto his back and stretched. "Do Hina first."

While Tekka did that, Itachi asked the first question that came into his mind.

"Why is there a castle here?" He looked up to where he could see the structure's tall spires through the canopy. Inabi and Yashiro both followed his gaze. Inabi sat down and took out a map instead of answering. He analyzed it for a few minutes while Itachi and Yashiro found suitable places to sit as well. Finally, Inabi shrugged.

"Dunno."

"Let me see that," Yashiro grumbled, snatching the map away from Inabi. The gray-haired man's eyes flicked downwards before he hummed.

"This was where the Hyuuga clan were situated when our clans fought for this land," he said. "Once they built it they were sure that they would win easily, but they did not anticipate Madara on the battlefield."

"I didn't know of this," Itachi mused, wondering if the very land they were sitting on was once a blood-stained battlefield. There was no evidence of any fights, no scars on the trees, no stray shuriken that were more than a few decades old.

"Madara told that story long before any of you were born," Yashiro explained, referring to the rest of the team. "Although Sasuke did ask about it once. I'm not sure how he found out."

Itachi's guilt and worry rushed into the forefront of his mind. He looked up to check if Tekka was done yet. He appeared to be finishing up. Good. They were wasting time like this.

"Madara-ojii must've told him himself," Itachi mumbled. "If Sasuke wasn't with me, he was with him. If Madara-ojii hadn't entertained him, he'd destroy everything he could find to pass the time."

"You and your brother stressed Madara out so much that you drove him to the grave."

"We'll find him," Inabi butt in. Yashiro, despite his best efforts, was really not helping the mood. "Him and Fugaku-san, so stop sulking."

Itachi nodded mutely and an uncomfortable silence settled over them until Tekka came back down with the cats.

"There's something stored below us, nya," Hina reported at once, folded ears flattened back against her head. "Very big or very numerous. Can you see it?"

Even with the sharingan, Itachi saw and felt nothing worth noting. If there was enough chakra below them that the ninneko assumed that the sharingan would be able to pick up on it, the problem was worse than what Itachi had initially thought.

Stopping to investigate was the last thing Itachi wanted to do, and that must have shown on his face. "I don't think we should just leave this alone," Inabi said, tapping his foot on the ground. "But it's your call."

The longer they spent here, the further away Sasuke got. Itachi would not search for an answer to why this area was so strange if it wasn't strictly necessary. However, Inabi was right in that they couldn't just leave. They'd look around for a few minutes first and if they found nothing definitive, _then_ they'd leave. They could always double back, but that might end up being more effort than it was worth so he was reluctant to do that.

"Is there an easy way to get down?" he asked. The cats both looked at the resident sensor. Yashiro nodded and turned his chin towards the castle.

"Some of the nature energy is seeping out of there."

"Lead the way."

* * *

Yashiro took them into the lowest level of the castle which was a storage area a few feet underground. It had been easy to infiltrate as it was only used by civilians. Any blood seals the Hyuuga made in the past had long since been scraped away. Itachi wondered how they'd managed to remove permanent seals like those. Surely there would've been some. Had the civilians somehow convinced the Hyuuga to do it before they left? Had shinobi who specialized in sealing inhabited the castle before the civilians found it? There were a lot of questions to be asked, but Itachi didn't have the patience to mull over it.

He squeezed through a narrow gap hidden behind a dusty cupboard, dragging himself along until the tiny passageway opened up to a cave. There was a dim light from Tekka's torch which he had unsealed from a storage scroll. Itachi could still hardly see, but it was better than not being able to see at all. He activated the sharingan but it didn't help any, so he blinked it away to avoid wasting chakra.

"This should go directly to whatever is collecting all the nature energy," Yashiro said, taking slow, cautious steps. The path was smooth, straight, and had a slight decline to it. There were a few beams reinforcing parts of the cave but not enough that Itachi was reassured that it wouldn't collapse on them.

Itachi felt something bump into his leg. He looked down and saw the reflection of Denka's eyes and nothing else. "This is a drop," the brown cat said quietly. "But the room there is huge, nya. Use a fireball."

Tekka lifted the torch forward at Itachi's curious stare. Denka was right. There was no floor or wall in front of them. The cave opened up to a large chamber even deeper than the cave itself. Itachi formed the necessary hand signs and blew a long stream of fire over the chamber.

His three companions stepped back in surprise. Even the cats' fur had puffed up. All Itachi could see was the fire under his nose.

"Look," Inabi said, putting a hand on Itachi's shoulder to get him to cut the stream. Inabi pointed down into the darkness before using his own katon, allowing him to see what was so surprising.

Hundreds of eggshell-white bodies that seemed to be in stasis. Itachi stared, eyes wide. Those things weren't people and they weren't natural. He pulled out two shuriken and some wire string.

The light flickered and vanished. "Keep going," he told Inabi, tying one shuriken onto the wire string. He moved to the edge of the drop and threw.

Tekka almost dropped the torch when Itachi pulled one of the bodies up.

"What are you doing?" he hissed. "We don't know what those are."

"Exactly," Itachi replied, poking the body with the end of his kunai. It seemed somewhat rubbery, but he definitely wasn't touching it. Its eyes were closed and it had short green hair. There was nothing else to distinguish it from an oversized doll. He used his foot to flip it over.

On the small of its back was a symbol of what appeared to be a folding fan with a fire emblem in the center. Itachi recognized a Hyuuga symbol when he saw one. What was it doing on this _thing_? The only explanation he could come up with was that these had been created by the Hyuuga. That didn't make sense. They didn't have any specialists in science, even in their civilian city, as far as Itachi knew. However, this chamber was directly connected to what was once their castle.

"That's not great," Inabi said blandly. "What's this supposed to be?"

"They don't need people for anything other than fighting," Yashiro said quietly. "And it's not as if they're dwindling in numbers there, either."

"You don't think they've been left here since…" Itachi trailed off, exchanging a wary glance with the cats.

"They seem pretty dead," Inabi said, giving the body a kick to demonstrate. Itachi waved him away.

"If these are absorbing all the nature energy from the surrounding areas, they need to be cleared out."

"What, you want us to dice 'em all up?" Inabi asked, appalled. There must've been hundreds.

"No, it'll take too long," he said, straightening up. "Denka and I will continue following Sasuke. Tekka and Hina will figure out what these are meant to be, or tell the Hyuuga to deal with them. Yashiro and Inabi, you go back and report this. Our clan is situated the closest to here. Prepare for a possible attack and try to find any other information about this."

"They'll kill them on sight," Yashiro deadpanned. "It's not even that important."

"This whole area ruined our senses," Itachi replied. "Tekka's seals are the only reason we can think at all. If the Hyuuga are planning an attack, we need to know."

Yashiro grunted and glanced back down at the body. "Understood."

They left the cave and the castle in silence. There was no way to communicate between them, but that was just as well. If there was any danger that needed to be reported, it should go directly to the clan and nowhere else. Itachi hoped he hadn't made the wrong decision. He knew confronting the Hyuuga was dangerous, but there was no way he would waste manpower to clean up another clan's mess. The Hyuuga were the only ones situated closer than the Uchiha to this strip of the mountains.

He needed to get more used to this. Until Father returned he was the head of the clan. He'd already broke a multitude of rules by going on a mission that wasn't life-or-death for the clan. They could suck it up and deal with it. As if he'd just leave Sasuke.

"At least we're on the right track," Denka said. Itachi snapped out of his thoughts. It had been less than an hour since they'd split up.

"What?"

Denka stopped running and pointed his nose forward. They were just in front of a waterfall, except much of the top had been reduced to rubble. There were zigzagging cracks spreading from an area where a rock had broken off and fallen. There was only one jutsu Itachi knew that could cause damage like that. On one hand, it was a clear indication that Sasuke had been here. On the other, he must have gotten into a fight.

Itachi hummed, eyeing the charred bushes around the river. Definitely Sasuke. "Let's keep going."


End file.
